Years Ago

Today is Saturday, Oct. 15, the 288th day of 2011. There are 77 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1860: Eleven-year-old Grace Bedell of Westfield, N.Y., writes a letter to presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln, suggesting he could improve his appearance by growing a beard.

1917: Dutch dancer Mata Hari, convicted of spying for the Germans, is executed by a French firing squad outside Paris.

1928: The German dirigible Graf Zeppelin lands in Lakehurst, N.J., completing its first commercial flight across the Atlantic.

1945: The former premier of Vichy France, Pierre Laval, is executed for treason.

1946: Nazi war criminal Hermann Goering fatally poisons himself hours before he was to have been executed.

1951: The classic situation comedy “I Love Lucy” premieres on CBS with the episode “The Girls Want to Go to the Nightclub.”

1969: Peace demonstrators stage activities across the country as part of a “moratorium” against the Vietnam War.

VINDICATOR FILES

1986: Legislation preserving the health and life insurance benefits of LTV Corp. retirees is revived in Congress after Peter Rodino, a New Jersey Democrat, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, gives his approval.

A pit bull that attacked and seriously injured a 2-year-old Masury girl in September was destroyed by the Trumbull County dog warden after being kept in isolation for more than 10 days.

President Reagan’s approval rating among blacks has increased sharply over two years, with 24.6 percent saying they approve of Reagan’s job performance.

1971: After almost three years, the observation windows at the Youngstown Municipal Airport restaurant, knocked out by a jet blast, will be replaced. Installation of safety glass will cost $5,083.

Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. will blow in a second blast furnace at its Campbell Works and start up two open hearths at its currently idle Campbell Works open hearth shop.

Ohio Secretary of State Ted W. Brown says a federal court decision allowing students to vote where they attend college apparently applies only to Hamilton County in 1971 because that is the only county in which students were permitted to register.

1961: The W.T. Grant Co. announces plans to close its downtown store at 201 W. Federal St. in January.

A Vindicator straw poll shows newly registered voters are overwhelmingly inclined to vote for Republican Harry Savasten over Mayor Frank Franko, the Democratic incumbent.

The Youngstown University Penguins defeat Southern Connecticut State, 28-8, in Rayen Stadium before 4,000 fans, most of them huddled under umbrellas during a steady rain.

1936: Six-year-old Meriem June Edwards is killed when she runs in front of a school bus at the Hubbard School where she was a first grade student.

Two pairs of flimflam artists cost a mill worker’s wife her life savings of $2,700 after convincing her she could double her money by helping the men claim a $30,000 inheritance.

Mrs. Ralph Faber saves her 4-year-old son and 18-month old daughter from a fire that destroyed the family home on Castalia Avenue.

Louis B. Greenberg, a graduate of the University of Kansas with a history of community work, is the new executive director of the Youngstown Jewish Federation.